As Mister Rogers would say, “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood!” We woke up to lots of sunshine and even got to have coffee on the porch until the breeze picked up – the breeze off the water is still pretty cold.

I thought I would update you on my knits, my WIP Wednesday post, so to speak. As I type, my Braided Cable Handle Tote is in its second very hot wash cycle. The first cycle was pretty close to felted but I could still see stitch definition so I’ve put it back in for round two. I didn’t think I’d want to have a pink purse but the yarn was a gift and the pattern was free so … off I went on Eclipse Day 2024 with a new project to cast on. It’s a simple enough pattern to knit and the cables add some interest to the stockinette stitch in the round. If I had the ability to be regimented and to keep track of my hours knitting, I’d know how long it took me to knit. BUT I don’t have that gene so I’m going to guess it took about 8-10 hours to knit? That would mean if I was going to even think about selling these and paying myself a “fair” wage (Maine minimum wage is close to $15/hour) I’d have to charge, for my time, $120-150 for this bag. Because this was gifted to me, the cost of materials is 0 but normally, two balls of 100% wool yarn would be somewhere in the area of $20-25. So, when I add the cost of materials to my time the bag now becomes $140-175. AND if I wanted to line it with fabric, that cost goes up again. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I’d be willing to pay that for a felted bag … I’d love to hear what you think. But my feeling is that I won’t be knitting a bunch of these for a craft show any time soon.

I’ve also been working toward completion of my Oorik Tank Top. Last night I completed the first of the two arm hole ribbing. It was a tight circle to knit with my 5″ needle tips but I did it and began to weave in all the ends on the inside of the vest. I am totally patting myself on the back for the knitting on this vest. It looks pretty stinking great! Today I haven’t decided which project will get my attention first but this Oorik tank is one possibility. It’s so close!

I worked a bit on my raspberry-colored socks, too, yesterday. I’ve gotten to the end of the second sock and have a few more rounds before I can graft the toe and say that these are done. I really love the color of the socks and I really hope the person that I made them for loves them and wears them. Often when you gift someone something they don’t wear them OR they don’t care for them. I’m giving up that bit of “control” and hope that they’ll be cared for and worn … that’s the best I can do. Next on the needles for socks will be some self-patterning yarn that I’ve been hauling around with me forever. I think I may make one of the Crazy Sock Lady’s patterns. The yarn is a cotton blend and pink and white … I’m noticing a pattern here. Haha.

I have begun the first thumb on my Fiddlehead Mittens but they’ve not been touched for a while. This should only take me a few hours to finish and then the mittens need a knitted lining … I haven’t knitted a lot of mitten linings but the ones that I have knit are not perfect and I hope that my “practice” on the last couple of linings will make this lining the best one yet. I still haven’t decided what yarn I will use to line the Fiddlehead Mittens but I will use yarn from my stash. And I am reminded that the Maine Yarn Cruise will happen again this year with some big changes, apparently. There will be an online component (I think the passport will be virtual or print-your-own) and I know my LYS, Yardgoods Center, will be participating. It runs from July 1 through Indigenous Peoples Day in October. There’s a website!

I pulled out the bottom ribbing and a couple of inches of my Sunset Highway sweater at least a couple of weeks ago and it’s been sitting on my ottoman for all that time on a stitch holder. I have to try it on to see if I’ve frogged it back enough (and I haven’t tried it on yet) and then re-knit the ribbing. I’ve also got to work the kinks out of the leftover yarn so that I can reuse it which means spraying it with water and stretching it on my swift or washing it and letting it dry on my swift. Update: I just tried it on and I think it needs to be frogged back another couple of inches so that it will be about this length when I reknit the ribbing. Or a little bit shorter. I have to check out the pattern since I finished this sweater so long ago to see how many inches of ribbing it asks for (and see if I agree.) Once the body is finished, I may have to do something with the sleeves, too. I’m not sure I like the heaviness of the dark red at the “cuff”. Hey, a pattern is only a guideline, right?

I still have a few things that are still on my list of things that need to be finished and I’ve had an “order” for another Emotional Support Chicken and for another Ruby the Mega Ray. I had an interesting experience shopping online with Michaels … I ordered safety eyes for the chickens and yarn for three rays … I was sent one set of eyes and got an email that part of my order was being sent (another set of eyes and half of the yarn.) I also got an email that my order was cancelled because the yarn was out of stock … but it’s still listed for sale on the website. So … when I called Michaels to ask if I had more stuff coming, the customer service rep was nice enough with a little snark and I may have to return all the yarn because I have nothing for the underside of the rays … unless I want to start over again and try to order a different belly color. AND then I have to wait again to see if I get any of the yarn I order … to be determined.

I had begun another sweater wayyyyy back when and then it has sat idly by while I did other things. I do want to make this sweater if I can figure out where I left off and can pick it up again and my stitches are consistent after all this time. I may begin again … the sweater is the Tree Seasons Cardigan and I absolutely fell in love with the yarn used in the pattern and I was able to buy ten balls which is exactly what I need to complete the sweater. I hope I can lengthen it a bit but I don’t want to run out of yarn either. I have a long way to go until I figure that out. This is a heavily cabled cardigan and it will be my project that requires me to sit by myself in a quite room project. At least initially while I learn the pattern. I want to get it done so I can wear it in the fall which means that I’m going to have to pull it out soon.

I want to start Susan B. Anderson’s bunny rabbit with a sweater pattern. Yarn is in a project bag in my studio waiting for me to finish just a few of my WIPs so that I don’t feel too guilty starting something new. Ha!

Gone knitting.